Multichannel transmission lines consist of a cable having many conductors for carrying electrical signals, such as power, control, data and ground signals. The conductors have extremely low impedance to quickly convey the signals through the transmission lines at high speeds.
The transmission line cables are terminated with a connector. Conventional connectors typically consist of a plug that detachably connects to a receptacle. The connector is fitted with pin and socket couplings where conductive pins are mounted to either the plug or receptacle and conductive sockets are mounted to the other. The pins are matingly received in corresponding sockets when the plug is connected to the receptacle. The individual pin and socket couplings are electrically coupled to the conductors in the cable to thereby convey respective power, control, data, and ground signal through the connector.
A drawback in conventional connectors is that the ground signal is carried on one of the pin and sockets couplings. The pin and socket coupling has a different impedance than the transmission line cable. This mismatched impedance causes reflection of the signal upon reaching the boundary between the conductor and coupling. The reflectance problem is aggravated as the signal pulse speed increases to high frequencies, such as gigahertz (GHz).
It is an object of this invention to provide a multichannel transmission line connector which reduces reflection and cross talk, particularly for high frequency signals.